Come and join us in the ReForest Training Hub at Agroforestry Show 2025!
Interest in agroforestry is on the rise across UK farming and forestry, but it can be hard to know how to get started. Much more than a trade show, the two-day gathering on 10 – 11 September at Woodoaks Farm, Hertfordshire will help you get to grips with agroforestry and unpack how trees and hedgerows on farms can boost soil health, wildlife populations and food production.
The ReForest Training Hub is a collaboration between ReForest, ORC, Agricology and DigitAF (represented by Cranfield University). Whether you’re new to agroforestry or looking to deepen your knowledge, the Training Hub is your gateway to practical solutions and cutting-edge insights.
What to expect:
✅ A packed schedule of 30-minute, high-impact sessions on key agroforestry topics
✅ Talks led by experienced farmers, researchers, and advisors
✅ Live demonstrations of digital tools for planning and managing agroforestry
✅ An extensive display of agroforestry resources and the chance to engage with leading organisations including ORC, Agricology, Cranfield University, Farm Woodland Forum, Irish Agroforestry Forum and the Agroforestry Open Weekend.
Wednesday 10th September 2025
10:00-11:30. Tree selection for agroforestry. Colin Tosh (ORC) and Tom Staton. Shakespeare Martineau and Marrons Tent. Stumped as to what trees to plant on your farm? Join this workshop to learn how to select the right trees to maximise productivity and minimise competition in both silvoarable and silvopasture systems.
11:00-11.30. Starting out with silvopasture: Lindsay Whistance (ORC). ReForest Training Hub. The most traditional form of agroforestry in the UK and Europe is grazing lands in and around trees. This session will introduce wood pasture and newer silvopastoral systems, their benefits to livestock farming, and how to go about their planning. We will draw upon the experience of the ReForest Northern England Living Lab and see examples of silvopasture in action in the British uplands.
13:00-13:30. Introduction to tree fodder: Lindsay Whistance (ORC) and Matt Smee (Agricology). ReForest Training Hub. Tree hay has been used for over 3,000 years, pre-dating traditional meadow hay. Though now rare in modern European farming, it offers valuable nutrition and resilience for livestock. This session will explore its benefits, challenges, and explain how farmers can integrate it into farm systems.
14:30-15:00. Agroforestry Decision Support Toolkit demo. Will Simonson (ORC) and Christine Devisser (EMEA). Join us at the ReForest Stand to give feedback on our Agroforestry Decision Support Toolkit. We take users through the four areas of initial exploration, financial considerations, environmental considerations and practical considerations, and guide users to relevant case studies, Knowledge Hub resources and digital tools that will help in their decision making.
Thursday 11th September 2025
10:00-10:30. Agro-silviculture: an introduction to tree establishment and care in agroforestry system: Paul Jackson and Will Simonson (ORC). ReForest Training Hub. Some farmers may be experienced at managing trees, but for many thinking of agroforestry there is still much to learn from the world of silviculture. Experienced tree professional Paul Jackson will share their top tips on the necessary skills, time and expense required to look after the trees properly.
11:00-12:30. Developing markets for specialist agroforestry products with Rowan Dumper-Pollard (ORC). Sainsbury’s and Lloyds Banking Group Tent. Finding a market for products from the trees in your system can be tricky. This session will explore some of the more specialist opportunities, including case studies from Europe and two UK-based companies making a feature of agroforestry in their product design and marketing.
12:30-13:00. Public Goods Tool demo. Tom Staton (Univ Reading) and Christian Gossell (ORC) Join us at the ReForest Stand to see a worked example of the Public Goods Tool in action for a farm with agroforestry. The tool helps to explore how agroforestry affects overall farm sustainability and provides an estimate of farm-level financial inputs and outputs as well as long-term financial resilience.
13:00-14:30. Lessons from traditional agroforestry on the European continent. Dr Will Simonson (ORC), Francisco Alves, Dan Carne and Dr Rico Hübner. Sainsbury’s and Lloyds Banking Group Tent. As in the UK, agroforestry has been a traditional and highly important part of farming in many regions of continental Europe. In this session we will hear about the current practice of woodmeadows in eastern Europe, orchard meadows in Germany, and wood pastures in Iberia. What can revival of these systems tell us about possibilities for restoring traditional agroforestry in the UK and helping to address the challenges of climate change?
13:00-13:30. Meet the farmer: James Bucher – Janie Caldbeck (Agricology). Join Janie Caldbeck in conversation with farmer James Bucher as they discuss the design and management of a 13ha eight-row diverse agroforestry scheme at Hall Farm.
13:30-14:00. Agroforestry co-design workshop (Katie Bliss & ORC team). Practical Silvopasture Codesign with Reforest Living Lab. Join us in codesigning a silvopasture system with Tom Newbury of Brackenhill Farm, an upland beef and sheep farm in the Lake District. Find us in the ReForest hub in the Training Barn where we will have interactive maps to feed in your ideas and lessons learned to help Tom develop his plans whilst also learning from each other. Then on Thursday at 13.30 we will host an informal workshop with Tom who will introduce the farm and objectives for his new agroforestry system. Drawing from a rich range of knowledge and experience from show participants, we will explore opportunities for silvopasture for shelter, browse, coppice, fruit /nut production and habitat connectivity at Brackenhill Farm. Diving into potential scenarios and different perspectives from farmer experience, research evidence and practical considerations, we will consider different spatial configurations (including shelterbelts, wood pasture, coppice, woodland and woodshelter blocks), species mixtures, trade-offs and practicalities.
👉 Build and celebrate the UK’s agroforestry movement with us! Find out more here: https://www.agroforestryshow.com/
